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A report released Monday by a task force of mayors underscores the ongoing problem of the economic recovery: jobs lost in the downturn are being replaced with lower-paying ones.

Jobs created through the second quarter of 2014 paid an average of $47,171, 23% lower than the $61,637 average wage of jobs that disappeared during the recession, according to the report, prepared by global information firm . The replacement of higher-paying jobs with lower ones represents $93 billion in lost wages--more than twice the dip seen after job losses in 2000 to 2003, when annual wages for new jobs created through 2006 stood 12% lower than their pre-recession levels, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Monday's report from the U.S. Conferences of Mayors pointed out that income gains are mostly going to those whose incomes are already high. Historical data confirms this. In 1975, the top 20% of households accounted for 43.6% of the nation's income, while the bottom 20% of households held just 4.3%. By 2012 the wealthiest quintile held 51.1% of the country's income, and the bottom quintile just 3.2%. The wealthiest Americans (the top 5% of households) saw their income share rise from 16.5% to 22.3%.

Mayors of 32 of the nation's cities, including Mayors Bill DeBlasio of New York, Rahm Emanual of Chicago, Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, and Annise Parker of Houston, announced a pledge signed by 36 mayors that commits them to addressing the issues of early childhood education, income inequality, and equal access to the Internet in their cities.

"Economists across the United States of America are telling us that income inequality--not some fringe issue that just a few people want to talk about, but a real issue--is actually holding back the economy of the United States of America," said Nutter, Philadelphia's mayor. "We don't have time to wait."

In real terms, the nation's 2012 household median income of $51,017 stood at the lowest level since 1995. Median income peaked in 1999, at $56,000. In 2007, the national median household income stood at $55,627. But it has fallen every year since. When inflation is removed from the equation, median income fell 5.5% from 2005 to 2012.

Meanwhile, from 2005 to 2012, the highest 20% of households captured 60.6% of income gains. Of that group the wealthiest benefited most, with the top 5% accumulated 27.6% of income gains.

The numbers underscore what seems to be constant news these days: despite record levels of corporate profitability, American wages remain stagnant. That is one of several factors creating a growing income gap between the poor and the affluent: tax policy is another big one.

"When we go back 30 years, we lost our way," said Paul Soglin, mayor of Madision, Wisc. "Mistakenly we thought that tax breaks to export jobs overseas was the way to build this country's economy."

The report forecasts that income disparities will continue to grow, and that the middle class will continue to shrink.

Compiled by global information firm IHS, it's important to note that the report does not measure income inequality. That is best captured by an area's Gini coefficient, which measures the distribution of local income across the local population, 0 being perfectly equal and 100 being horrifically unequal. However, the report did pull a few interesting data points about income distribution across Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Not too shockingly, a border town along the north bank of the Rio Grande has a huge population of households with low incomes. In the greater Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas, metro area, 42.5% of households have incomes lower than $25,000, while only 9.4% of households have incomes above $100,000. In Washington, D.C. (specifically, the greater Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area), 44.1% of households have incomes greater than $100,000, while only 11.5% of households earn less than $25,000.